Fanfare band

A fanfare band, fanfare corps, fanfare battery, horn and drum corps, bugle band, drum and bugle corps, or trumpet and drum band (including the German fanfarenzug, fanfarenkorps and regimentsblaserkorps, the Dutch tamboerkorps, trompetterkorps and jachthoornkorps, and the French batterie-fanfare and fanfare de cavalerie) is a military or civilian musical ensemble composed of percussion instruments, bugles, natural horns and natural trumpets (and sometimes even brass instruments). Fanfare bands are the descendants of the old medieval trumpet and drum teams that sounded fanfares on important occasions and are related to drum and bugle corps internationally.

Fanfare Bands are a unique type of marching and military band that plays for entertainment, public occasions and gatherings as well as competing in various competitions. They evolved from the medieval ensembles of trumpets and drums, and in the ensembles of trumpets and timpani which were formerly common in the mounted bands of cavalry regiments.

Beginning in the late Middle Ages, trumpets and drums (usually snares and tenors) would sound fanfares to make important holidays or ceremonial events. These instruments would also serve as timekeepers in various towns, and announce various special events. Incorporated in mounted bands since the 12th century, timpani and trumpets or bugles were, from the middle of the 15th century, employed to motivate mounted troops in battle as well as on parade.

In the early 19th century, the natural horn came into being as a signalling instrument for the light infantry in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

The modern fanfare band first appeared during the 19th century, especially in Germany and France, but it is in Belgium where the first modern band was formed. Founded in 1806 at Izegem and currently known as the Koninklijke Stadsfanfaren Izegem (www.ksfi.be), it is the oldest and still performing Fanfare Band / Orchestra in the world. At the same time, similar formations were also raised in the Netherlands. And by the late 19th century, fanfare bands became the official field music formation within the French, Dutch and Belgian armies, with the bugle replacing the fife in the infantry and other arms.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the Band of the Republican Guard began developing its own fanfare and bugle section under its director Gabriel Defrance, thus the band and bugles of the French Republican Guard's infantry and cavalry units are the predecessors of today's ensembles. French civilian fanfare bands adopted similar styles at the same time, with the bands being located in civil fire departments, which were patterned in the traditions of the French Army and Navy and thus sported similar instruments. In 1935 the Band and Bugles of the French Air Force under Claude Laty, then the band director, further developed the modern fanfare band and its standard instrumentation as the band created its own fanfare and bugle section with Maurice Bonnard, the band drum major at that time. In Germany the use of fanfare ensembles was restricted to civilian bands from the late 19th century onward, although the fanfare trumpets survived in military bands till modern times, including until the 20th century, mounted bands. These civil bands form the basis of today's ensembles. In the late 20th century even the use of the shoulder strap and the introduction of valved bugles and multiple tenor drums from the US revolutionized the ensembles and the instruments they use. Today several ensembles in France and Germany use brass instruments in addition to the standard instrumentation as well as the multiple tenor drum.

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Wikipedia